Louisianans can begin filing their state income tax returns Thursday but will see a delay in receiving their returns due to new fraud
prevention software being used by the state, according to the state's
Department of Revenue. Both the federal and state governments had pushed back
the first date for filing returns to Jan. 30 as part of the New Year's deal
that averted the fiscal cliff.

Tim Barfield

Those filing their state returns this week
won't be able to get their refunds for a month, however, due to new security
features introduced by the Department of Revenue, according to a news release.
The department will not start processing returns until the middle of next month
and the first refunds will go out on Feb. 26, according to the release.

Tim Barfield, the department's executive counsel, said in
the release that stopping tax fraud was one of his top priorities after being
hired last year. About 23,000 cases of tax fraud were uncovered in Louisiana
last year.

"When I first saw the data and the growing possibility
for millions of dollars to be stolen from the state of Louisiana, we wanted to
put in measures that would immediately maximize LDR's efficiency to prevent tax
fraud," Barfield said.

Over the past two months, the department has implemented a
new system to reduce fraud and better verify taxpayers identities, according to
the release. If the department receives a questionable return, the filer will
be directed to an online verification sight or telephone survey that will be
used to as a "secure method to verify identity and the final certification of
the return," according to the release.

About 1.6 million Louisiana taxpayers, or 82 percent of
taxpayers in the state, file their returns electronically, according to the
department.